Admissions

Who should attend?

Courses offered by MIT Professional Education — Short Programs welcome managers and specialists, engineers, scientists, and technical staff, as well as generalists such as consultants, marketing executives, and entrepreneurs. Participants gain crucial knowledge they need to fuel their careers or enhance their companies in a collaborative academic setting. People come from around the globe to benefit from the unparalleled MIT experience.

Application

All prospective participants must complete an online application for admission. Applications for our summer programs are accepted beginning in January, and individuals should apply early to reserve a place. Admission is on a space-available basis. Links to applications are found on the course description page. If you are able to access the online application form, then registration for that particular course is still open. See our courses page for more information. Please visit our FAQs page for more information about applying.

Admission

There are no general admission requirements; however, the Short Programs office reserves the right to select only those applicants they believe have the qualifications and experience to succeed in each course. Please visit our FAQs page for more information about academic planning.

Visas

MIT Professional Education follows the U.S. State Department guidelines, which state that Short Programs participants, if they require a visa, need a tourist visa, not a student visa. Please consult the U.S. State Department to determine whether or not you need a visa. When applying for a visa, applicants should use their acceptance letter as their letter of invitation and remember that the visa application process typically takes several months. Applicants are highly encouraged to start the visa application process as soon as they have been accepted to one of our Short Programs courses. The most recent guidelines can be obtained from the local U.S. Embassy or Consulate or the U.S. State Department.

Applicants from countries covered by the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) will need to visit https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/esta.html for more information and to apply for authorization to travel to the United States.

Course Fees

Course fees vary by course but you can expect to pay $600 to $1,100 per day or $1,050 to $5,600 per course. In general, course fees do not include meals or housing. Full payment is due immediately upon receipt of the email invoice. MIT Professional Education reserves the right to cancel a registrant's admission if payment is not received by two weeks after acceptance if no extension has been approved by Short Programs.

Scholarships

A few courses offer a limited number of partial scholarships. These scholarships are primarily reserved for those in the academic community and are not meant for professionals working in industry. Scholarships will not cover travel or living expenses and full-fee scholarships are not available. Please note that a course application must be submitted before a scholarship request will be considered and that not all courses offer scholarships. Requests must be received within two weeks of being accepted to a course. Scholarship requests are submitted by using the Scholarship Request Form. Tuition for a course will not be due until after you receive notification of our decision. All decisions on scholarship requests are final.

Discounts

Group Discounts
Five or more participants from one company are eligible to receive a 15% discount off the regular course fee when they enroll with Short Programs. Participants do not need to be enrolled in the same course. To request a group discount, please contact the Short Programs office (shortprograms@mit.edu) with the names of group members and the course(s) they plan to attend. At least five applications must be submitted before any discount can be applied. Discount requests can be submitted for subsequent applicants, but all requests for a group discount and payment for all registrants must be received prior to the start date of the first course. If any participants cancel their registration and the group drops below five participants, the remaining participants will be re-invoiced at the regular course rate.

ILP Discounts
Employees from MIT Industrial Liaison Program (ILP) member companies are eligible for a 15% tuition discount. To receive the discount, contact your Industrial Liaison Officer at MIT for the discount code. This code should be entered in the field for promotional codes at the bottom of the course application form. If you don't know whether your company is an ILP member, check the member list at ILP Website, where you will also find a list of Industrial Liaison Officers.

In cases where more than one discount is applicable, only the largest discount will be applied.

Cancellations, Transfers, and Refunds

Please note that submitting the application form does constitute enrolling in the program if you are accepted, and the below cancellation penalties will be applied. For this reason, we encourage applicants to have their attendance and funding approved by their company/institution prior to applying. Program acceptance cannot be deferred to subsequent years. If you are unable to attend your course, please review our cancellation, transfer, and substitution policies below. Program application fees are non-refundable.

Cancellations must be submitted using the Cancellation Request Form and charges will be assessed as follows once received by the MIT Professional Education - Short Programs office:

Cancellations received more than 42 days prior to the program are subject to a cancellation fee of $250.

Cancellations received 22-41 days prior to the program are subject to a cancellation fee equal to 50% of the program tuition.

Cancellations received fewer than 22 days prior to the program are subject to a cancellation fee equal to 100% of the program tuition.

Registrants who do not show up for their course will be charged full tuition. No refund of tuition will be made to those who arrive late or leave before completing a program for which they have been registered.

Registrants who have submitted payment prior to their cancellation will be eligible for refunds according to the schedule of cancellation penalties listed above.

Requests to transfer to another course offered by Short Programs will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Any transfer requests received fewer than 15 days prior to the program will be subject to a transfer fee equal to 25% of the program fee. Registrants will also be charged any difference in cost between the original and new program.

If you are unable to attend a course for which you have registered, you may contact the Short Programs office to request a transfer to another participant within the same company. The substitute participant must submit a new application form.

Short Programs courses are occasionally cancelled because faculty become unavailable or enrollment is not sufficient to run. The Short Programs office tries to announce cancellations at least four weeks in advance. Tuition will be refunded, but MIT Professional Education is not liable for travel expenses. We strongly recommend that you book accommodations from the suggested list on our Hotels & Lodging page and that you book directly with the hotel to facilitate any cancellation and/or refund requests. Most of the hotels from our list offer an MIT discount.

Payment Methods

Please note that all invoices are sent directly to the registrant as a pdf attached to an email and registrants are responsible for forwarding them to the appropriate person/office. The registrant's preferred address will be used as the billing address unless another billing address is provided. A separate invoice is sent for each course/participant.

Invoices are emailed to participants after acceptance and full tuition is due immediately upon receipt of the email. The Short Programs office reserves the right to cancel a registrant's admission if payment is not received by two weeks after acceptance if no extension has been approved by Short Programs. Please go to Short Programs Costs & Dates for current tuition rates.

Payments by Check, Draft, or Money Order:
Payment must be in U.S. dollars and sent directly to:

Checks should be made payable to MIT and should be accompanied by a printed copy of the invoice(s). Please make sure the check also states course and participant name(s) and the last seven digits of the invoice number(s). Personal checks will not be accepted fewer than three weeks prior to the course start date.

Payments by Visa, MasterCard, or American Express:
Registrants who are able to pay the full tuition amount due with a single transaction, using one credit card, should access our payment website to pay online. The online payment url is included in the email accompanying each invoice. Note to corporate/government card users: Please make sure that you are using the correct card for this transaction. We cannot accommodate requests to credit the original card and re-pay via a different card or another payment method.

Registrants who have additional payment requirements that prohibit them from using the web (including but not limited to using multiple cards or needing to pay in multiple transactions) may call our office at 617-253-2101 between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm Eastern Standard Time to charge program fees to a Visa, MasterCard, or American Express account. Registrants should be prepared to provide name, program name, invoice number, amount due, credit card number, expiration date, and billing address at the time of the call. Please note that credit card information sent by email cannot be accepted and will be deleted without being processed.

Payments by Bank/Wire Transfer:
Payment by wire transfer, especially international transfers, often includes additional fees. Please be sure to check with your bank to see if additional fees apply.

US government personnel wishing to pay by electronic fund transfer (EFT) should contact our office for banking information.

Transfers should be in U.S. dollars and include any transfer fees. Bank of America does not use IBAN numbers. Registrant's name, program name, and invoice number must be included in the transfer. Please note that registrants are responsible for all fees charged by their originating bank and any intermediate bank(s) and that wires may take up to two weeks to reach our office. To expedite the process, we recommend that registrants email the transfer receipt from their bank to shortprograms@mit.edu.

Contract/Purchase Orders:
Registrants whose tuition is to be covered by a government contract or company purchase order should notify us immediately. The purchase order paperwork is due no later than two weeks after acceptance or six weeks before the program, whichever is earlier, to MIT Professional Education, Attn: Short Programs, 700 Technology Square, Room NE48-416, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139. It may also be emailed to shortprograms@mit.edu or faxed to 617-258-8831. If a contract or purchase order is not received by the specific date, the registrant may submit a letter of authorization for payment. Enrollment cannot be guaranteed without receipt of a purchase order or a letter of authorization. Each purchase order or letter of authorization should include the name of the registrant as well as the program name for which the payment is intended. All purchase orders and government contracts should have prepayment authorization to ensure that payment is received prior to the course.